


Of Gods, Heroes, and Children

by Vera_lemur



Series: Of Gods, Heroes, and Children [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, Ancestors, Aspects as Deities, Dancestors - Freeform, Gen, Original Class Titles, Personified Aspects, Swapped Class Titles, decendents - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-06 03:30:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5401343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vera_lemur/pseuds/Vera_lemur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a fiction that happens when I start considering a player's "class and aspect" as more than just a specification of ability. A whole new universe with a whole new history right on down to a whole new creation story. The heroes you know and love have new problems and old enemies to face.</p><p>What happens when the Queen falling Ill turns out to be only the first domino in a series of events far larger and more sinister than anyone suspects? Can even the Gods themselves do anything to stop it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Maid of Life

**Author's Note:**

> This is only the first chapter of the first story of what I hope to be a large series of a very beautiful and interesting, multi-pronged tale. In our first chapter we will be introduced to a one Jane Crocker, Maid of Life.
> 
> Tags for characters, relationships, and warnings will be added as relevant.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When your title is "Maid of Life" and you are considered the most powerful avatar of the God(dess) of Life in decades, you tend to be in relatively high demand, and you know it. Jane is such a young woman and she has a no nonsense temper to back it up.

Jane hadn’t been at the tower when the messenger came. She’d been up to her elbows in childbirth thank you very much, and that took precedence, in her mind, over everything. As a Maid of Life, the act of helping another give birth to life was one of her most sacred duties. Jane worked diligently not only to ensure a healthy birth, but that the mother survived her labor.

“There now, one last push.” Jane encouraged, already holding the new daughter of the household, with a heaving groan, the mother gave the last push and the baby came free. Jane held the child in her arms and instructed one of her apprentices (a girl a few years older than Jane was herself) on how best to tie off and cut the umbilical cord. With that done, Jane handed the mother her daughter for the first time. “You’re almost done, now it’s just a matter of the afterbirth.”

First time mothers might be discouraged at the notion of going through labor again just to expel the womb, but the woman currently looking brightly into the eyes of her little girl was only recently made the mother of three, and knew the steps of child birthing well enough.

“Jane, your brother waits outside.” Jane’s youngest apprentice reminded her, “With the King’s messenger.”

“Did you not hear me just say that our work is not yet done?” Jane chided the young troll girl gently, “Life waits for no one but Void.”

“We are well trained enough to handle the afterbirth.” The eldest said gently, “It is not good to keep waiting one who reports directly to the King.”

Jane huffed, but left the birthing room, deciding to allow herself to be seen in her soiled smock and bloody hands as she received the king’s messenger. The sight of her covered in the fluids of birthing was not something John was unused to seeing anyways. Her appearance, sweaty and smeared in various places with blood, sleeves rolled up and hands and forearms soiled did what she’d wanted, shocking the king’s messenger into a temporary silence while she moved to the prepared water basin to clean her arms. “Brother, you know how I feel about being rushed in the birthing room. Surely our guest would have been far more comfortable in the tower awaiting my return.”

“The message I carry is of the utmost importance and can tolerate no delay, my Lady.” The young messenger said, puffing up in his perceived importance. Jane considered him as she rinsed the blood from her skin, he was young, tired but looking thrilled with himself. She judged him a volunteer eager to prove himself and chosen for his fast riding skills alone, because for certain he had none of the reserved dignity the messengers that were sent to their father had.

“That’s what he kept saying when we offered him the opportunity to rest, sister.” John said, small grin slipping onto his face.

“And, what is your message?” Jane asked, removing the protective smock from over her dress, revealing a simple but lovely gown of light blue, with the beaded symbol of Life placed prominently on her bodice. She shook out her short hair, resetting her glasses that had nearly fallen off her nose.

“It is here, my lady.” the messenger said gravely drawing out a parchment from his doublet.

“John, if you would.” Jane said dismissively, “I really should return to the birthing room and oversee my acolytes.”

“I was told to allow this missive into no other hands but my own and the Maid of Life.” John and the messenger said together.

“He keeps saying that too.” John added, his grin wide on his face.

 

“Oh, for the love of Life!” Jane said exasperated, snatching the letter from the man. “To Jane Egbert-Crocker, Maid of Life, Hope of the Land, yadda-yadda-yadda. Where do these people come UP with these titles? I’m a Maid of Life, that’s it. From His Majesty yadda-yadda-yadda… Ah, finally, .. to conscript your services to heal the Queen who… lies at death’s door?” Jane looked up from the parchment, “I’m being forced to heal the Queen? How insulting, I would do that as a matter of course! For the love of Life, FORCING an avatar to uphold the will of her deity…” Jane made a disgusted face, handing the missive back to the messenger, “Send the Queen here and she shall be healed within the week.”

“The Queen would not survive the trip.” the messenger said shaking his head emphatically, “When I was chosen for this mission I was brought to the Queen’s chambers so that I might give you a first hand account. The Queen is so very ill that she cannot tolerate even the jostling of her bed for the King to sit next to her. She suffers great pain and has lost a worrying amount of weight, making her seem more skeletal than woman.”

“For the Queen to have her best chance I MUST have access to the tower’s herb garden. Some of which are only potent if freshly picked.” Jane protested. “Her best chance is here.”

“With all due respect Janey,” John said gently, smile long gone, “You’re not going to win this one. Take as much as you’d like from the gardens, hire two, three carriages for all anyone cares. Bill the crown. If the King is willing to put himself in the debt of the Order, he’s willing to accept your costly traveling fees.”

“There is more.” The messenger added before Jane could reply or even berate her brother for the use of a private nickname in the company of a stranger, “The King requires you to leave at once, there is to be no delay once you have read the letter.”

“I need TIME.” Jane protested, “The Queen is afflicted with an unknown ailment, I will need everything at my disposal which will take time to gather and store and ship to the castle. I will need two days at least before I will be able to leave, and that is WITH every apprentice in the tower working tirelessly to properly preserve each herb and store every poultice and mineral bottle.”

“Have your Order prepare for you as needed and send them after you.” the messenger said simply, “It is the King’s wish that you will leave by the next rising or setting of the sun, whichever shall happen first.” The messenger looked out to the mid-afternoon outside the window, “That does not give you much time to pack, my lady.”

“How dare you.” Jane whispered, and John knew a warning sign when he heard one. 

Stepping between Jane and the messenger quickly he held out his hands and smiled weakly, “Now now, harming a messenger is a serious offense, not to mention a severe displacement of aggression.” When Jane only looked darkly at HIM John chuckled nervously, “Jane, you will get your way in the end, you know you will. You just have to wait until AFTER you’ve healed the Queen to give the King a piece of your mind, so the faster we get on that, the faster you can come home.”

With a deep huff that meant Jane would let John have his way, Jane strode past both of them and made for her horse. Within a minute, she was riding away.

“Where is the lady going?” The messenger asked, suddenly wary of the greatest healer in the kingdom.

“Well you only gave her until sunset to pack.” John said, slapping the man on the shoulder. “Come on, back to the tower, You look like you could use a stiff drink.” John knew that the apprentices would be fine, and he would have to take charge of setting everyone else in the tower to making all the preparations Jane would need. These things would be his lot in life after he succeeded his father as head of the Order.

 

~

“I cannot BELIEVE the nerve of that little hooligan!” Jane said crossly, bustling around her chambers, grabbing clothes for riding. Someone was preparing saddle bags with food and water skins, if she was to travel with all haste, she would do so that the crown would have to provide her EVERY last amenity. She’d be damned if she would let the crown treat her like this without feeling it in his coffers. “I want EACH bottle carefully packed in wool.” Jane told a scribe of mind who was to take down her instructions and see them carried out. The young troll lad was very good at his job, and often required no paper, his memory was just that good. “I don’t care if that means we have to use more trunks, if the King is this desperate for my services, he shall pay the cost.”

“Yes, m’lady.” the scribe said, watching her move around the room with a slight frown of worry. “Your riding gloves, m’lady.”

“Oh, oh yes, I asked you to remind me.” Jane said, looking around for the gloves, “Where did I?”

“On the vanity, m’lady.” the scribe said and she moved to pull them onto her hands.

Jane now wore a plain, pale brown riding dress, her goddesses symbol a detail on the shoulder of her sleeve in equally pale green, which would be hidden under her riding cloak. Jane looked around her room, then decided something else, “Have my personal measurement set sent along too.”

“Of course m’lady.” the scribe said, then after a beat asked, “Will that be all?”

Jane sighed, “Yes, I suppose so.”

“This is the first time you’ve left the Order.” the boy noted.

“It is.” Jane agreed, “And I’m going right to the capital, as a glorified servant.”

“Oh I’m afraid it’s far worse than simply that, dear cousin.” Jake said as he entered. “You’re going to the castle as a hostage.”

“Jake!” Jane said and rushed to greet him with a customary hug, “Wait, what do you mean a hostage?”

“There was a letter for uncle that this king’s messenger brought too, stating that the King was charging the Order with the healing of the Queen officially, and should any ill fate befall her, he will hold the order directly responsible. There’s a lot of politics involved that basically all boil down to this: The king is stricken with grief, and there is a person in court who would profit from the king raising his army against the Order of Avatars.” Jake said gravely, “Which is why I’ll be personally escorting you to the castle, and will serve as your protection there. And, should the need arise, orchestrate your escape from there and home again safely.”

“This is outrageous. All his Majesty needed do was ask ME to heal his wife earlier in her affliction so she might have come HERE and I would have gladly and quickly been able to do so.” Jane protested, suddenly unsure if she was energetically angry or exhaustively dismayed.

“You’ve never been to the capital dear cousin.” Jake said with a sad smile. “If things aren’t plainly outrageous, they are hopelessly convoluted.” Jake then recognized the young scribe of Mind in the room. “And you lad, are to act as if you never heard those words. Understood?”

“Understood sir.” The troll nodded, and Jake nearly chided him for calling him sir before he remembered his supposed status here at the Order, being the (adopted) nephew of the Order’s head.

“Right-o.” Jake said nodding, “Sunset’s soon, are you nearly ready?”

“With the time given me, I suppose I am.” Jane sighed, “Ensure that everything I’ve asked for is written down and taken to John so he can arrange it’s preparation.” She reminded the scribe.

Jake laughed weakly, “Did your dear brother anger you? What a tall order!”

Jane cocked an eyebrow at her cousin and said with a sweetly venomous tone, “It will be good practice for my dear older brother.”

“That is a distinct affirmative.” Jake laughed again turning to face out the door again. “Come on, We’ve got a few days of saddle sore to look forward to.”

“You know I’ll heal you if that happens.” Jane said, moving to her cousin and placing her hand on his offered arm and they left her room. Then they left the tower. Then the stables. Then they left the grounds. Then they left the village the tower stood just outside of and with that departure, Jane was entirely dependent on Jake for where to go, because she had just left her whole world behind.


	2. The Knight Strider

The King and Queen would never both be avatars of the Gods. Royals could both be ‘unblessed’ with divine preference, but such happenings were rare. An avatar was a powerful asset, and the throne was a symbol of power, as well as a magnet for it. Still, Having BOTH the King and Queen representative of only the merest fraction of the nation’s populace made for skittish subjects and an Order of Avatars' increased attempts to involve themselves in state affairs rather than keeping to the divine, not that the Order didn’t attempt to involve themselves in matters of state on the grounds of supposed ‘divine intervention’ but the frequency and fervor were both markedly less.

As a rule, avatars in the royal bloodline did not affiliate themselves with the Order to ensure that all perceptions of power did not become circumspect. Even the illegitimate children were denied the sense of comradery and support that the order could lend to a lone avatar like Dave Strider.

Three years older than the Crown Prince Dirk, Dave was an open secret and the bane of the Queen. He bore deathly pale coloring, even for the fair haired Strider line, due no doubt, to Dave’s birth mother Regina. “She insisted on being called Rina among her close friends.” That phrase and the suspicion that she might also be at least part albino (as Dave obviously was) were among the few morsels of information that Dave had about his mother since she’d been forcefully ejected from the castle by the Queen, only to have her infant son taken from her by armed castle guards. He had been touted around the court as the Heir to the throne due to the widespread fear that the Queen would not be able to bear her royal husband a son.

Dave could account for his life in two distinct segments, the time in his early life where he’d been dressed up in the most outrageous lacy baby garments, (better suited to the queen’s petticoats in Dave’s opinion) that time when he had been the King’s son, and when he’d become the King’s Bastard. If Dirk hadn’t been so sickly and nearly disturbingly quiet as an infant, Dave might have been chased out of the castle to be rejoined with his mother, if she still lived (and indeed, even if she didn’t). But for fear that the Prince would die early in life, Dave was kept in the castle in a decidedly less ‘honored’ place. (and really, the flouncy get-ups that Dirk STILL allowed himself to be dressed in were bad enough that sometimes Dave didn’t resent his younger brother.) Still, Dave was kept, however dishonorable his existence, however it enraged the Queen, because if for any reason Dirk found himself unable to take the throne, Dave was the only one with a solid claim before an entire horde of lords and second and third cousins many times removed by marriage or law could attempt to stake their claim.

Too bad Dave REALLY did not want to be Crown Prince, let alone King. He was much more satisfied being a Knight of the Realm, a sworn protector assigned to the Crown Prince. The Queen only begrudgingly tolerated his presence in her home as Dirk’s personal Bodyguard. “It is your brotherly duty to look out for and protect your younger brother is it not?” Was how she’d said it to him at the tender age of five (she’d said it with a cold smile and hateful eyes that Dave already understood to mean that she could never like him.) when he’d been sent to study with the young squires. The way she’d apparently put it to her royal husband was a good deal more blunt, “If you insist on disgracing me by keeping that Bastard handy in the event your TRUE son should die, then I insist he be made to dedicate his life to being my son’s sworn shield. If he dies defending the Prince’s life he will still have served his purpose of being your spare, won’t he?”

The King had consented to sending his firstborn to train to be a knight. (This being before they had known he was an avatar and a ‘Knight’ of Time, so no one could have known the irony the Royals were setting up.) But to have the last word in his wife’s scheme he cited law that only named children of noble houses could become knights and so declared it was necessary for Dave to bear the Royal name in order to become a squire. This had caught the Queen off guard because she’d assumed he’d send him to be adopted by some lesser house, not take the same name as his True Son (as she thought of her son when she was forced to compare him to Dave.) And so it came to pass that one day when the Queen was away from the Castle, the King ceremonially recognized Dave Court (the name Court being the name given to bastard children born in the castle) by his true name of Dave Strider, (His full name being a truly monstrous moniker that Dave had long since decided that the only important parts were the first bit and the last bit,) son of the King though not heir to the throne. 

Really though, Dave thought the Queen really shouldn’t have tried her hand at scheming against his father. Dave would have protected his little brother as a matter of his natural inclinations as a big brother, exponentially magnified by the God of Time’s ‘favor.’ which Dave thought was a horse shit term for what his few encounters with the Deity were like.

In the first place, the God of Time loved to show up with Dave’s face. Sometimes He would appear older or even younger than Dave was, but his favorite trick seemed to be showing himself to Dave as an exact duplicate of Dave at that moment. Apparently the old term humans used for those who’d been blessed by the gods (before the troll term of ‘avatar’ became much more widespread) was ‘God Kissed’ which Time had chosen to punctuate by taking Dave’s first kiss, a full week before he’d managed to get the young handmaiden he’d been courting to agree to kiss him. 

Of course Time loved to make his visits to Dave during the space of one moment to the next, stopping the flow of time just to make some asinine commentary to Dave, remind him that Dave’s service would come due soon and to not shirk his training. That was the word he’d used. Shirk. Dave had had to take the trouble to look that word up to learn that it meant he shouldn’t slack off during his training. Well DUH, it wasn’t like Dave really had much else to do with his (ha ha) time. Besides, he enjoyed being competitive with the other squires and while he couldn’t halt time to the standstill it kept for however long the God wanted, he could slow it to the point that no one had been able to land a blow on him since he’d mastered the ability at the age of fifteen.

That had been four years ago. Now he was no longer training to be a Knight, he WAS a knight. He hadn’t just been assigned to Dirk’s personal protection detail, he’d earned the right to be the sum total of it. Dave had gotten that good at utilizing his physical abilities as well as his avatar’s gifts in tandem and could, if he so chose, never be late for any tedious appointment required of him. Dave hardly ever chose to do this however, seeing as how he found it devilishly ironic to be a Knight of Time who was constantly late for everything but his responsibilities to his little brother. His Queen had already made it quite clear that she’d have him beheaded for conspiracy against the crown if he ever shirked (and there was that WORD again, had Time used it so Dave could know it later in life?) his duties as one of Dirk’s guards. (this conversation taking place on his first day on the assignment, when he’d not yet proven to the satisfaction of all that he could handle the job on his own.) 

Dave now knew everything about his younger brother, and attended to most aspects of his life, including bringing his meals. (after having tested them for poison himself) He knew that his brother had few hobbies in his life: practicing sword-fighting, reading histories, designing different mechanisms for a variety of purposes, and breaking every young maiden’s heart in the court. It seemed fitting that the Prince of Heart be a heartbreaker, if not for the fact that Dave knew WHY Dirk refused each and every girl who threw themselves at his feet.

Staring into the middle distance, Dave waited for exactly six minutes and thirty seconds past the chiming of the last bell that tolled the hour. Dave didn’t need the clock to tell time, he knew it in his bones before he’d known how to talk. When the minutes and seconds had passed Dave knocked on the door and entered the room with a servant in tow, carrying a covered tray of Dirk’s breakfast that he’d only just tested for himself to be free of poisons. “Breakfast!” Dave called in a loud if flat voice. “Get your royal ass out of bed, I know you’re awake.”

“You’re ever a pain in this royal ass of mine, Dave.” Dirk grumbled, sitting up in bed and glaring sleepily at his half brother, not as one might be irritated with family, nor as one might be with a servant. The two fair haired young men had long since (silently) agreed that while they couldn’t honestly say they were unrelated from each other, they were hardly brothers.

“That one would be funnier if you hadn’t used it hundreds of times before.” Dave quipped, pointing to the table where Dirk preferred to take his meals, so the new serving boy would know where to set the large tray.

“You would be short of glib comments too, if you had to brave the creativity-dry court every day. They have no imagination, save for gaining power beyond their stations.” Dirk complained, slipping his feet into warm slippers Dave had placed there last night, and moving to the table to begin his morning routine.

“Gladly, such things are so far above my station, I am never tempted to imagine them.” Dave replied without hesitation. His brother was so reserved it had taken him nearly a year to decide on whether Dirk liked him or not. Dave was private in the idea that the persona he displayed to most everyone he met was a complete act, but Dirk was so deadpan sometimes Dave worried that his Prince’s nature might have damaged Dirk’s heart in some way. It wasn’t unheard of.

“How happy for you.” Dirk muttered, before finishing his food in silence. For the most part Dave had grown out of his childhood inclination to resent his brother, but on occasion it liked to crop up again, most usually when Dirk was in a foul mood and found Dave handy for expressing it. Dave tried not to be petty in return to his brother.

“They say that Hope travels with the Maid of Life, and soon your mother will be well again.” Dave said, choosing his words carefully, he still wasn’t sure who this new servant was a spy for (though he most certainly was a spy.)

Dirk’s hand paused in lifting his fork to his mouth. “Is that so?” He asked quietly, before continuing his meal. 

Oh yes, Dave knew EXACTLY why Dirk was considered a heartbreaker throughout the court. Lamentably, the Crown Prince had little to no intention of producing an heir towards the line of succession, let alone little bastard children who could confuse the succession, or serve as spare princes in waiting. Dirk, through choice or his nature as a Prince of Heart, had let his soul die under the weight of the office he bore, save for one source of happiness for him, a light of hope in his bleakness. The Crown Prince had lost what was left of his heart to an adopted son of the Order of Avatars, and thus gained himself a twice frowned upon mess of a relationship.


	3. Jane Croker, Maid of Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jane arrives at Court.

When she was younger Jane had once imagined traveling like Jake did now, but soon she quickly realized she liked the steady familiarity of her home in the tower. Night fell around them and Jake had them riding for part of the night, stopping at an inn before midnight, and waking with the sun the next morning. Travelling like this convinced Jane more than ever that she was quite satisfied being a homebody than a traveller.

On what Jake promised would be their last day of travelling he got on Jane’s bad side by waking her well before the dawn when there was barely any light at all to see by that wasn’t from candles. But she quickly understood that they were trying to avoid the busy clutter of the city’s streets. She didn’t LIKE it, but at the very least she saw the good sense of it.

The gate guards did not appreciate Jake’s foresight, denying them access through the City’s main gate until Jake pulled a rather official looking document and he signed for Jane to show her pendant she used instead of a signet ring. (she was too often getting her hands filthy for a ring to be practical) Grumbling terribly, the guards allowed them access, and they moved through the city.

It smelled. That was the first thing she noted about it once she got over the sight of it’s sheer SIZE, which she’d done yesterday afternoon when they’d stopped at the inn outside the city early for the night. (And really, with a warning sign like getting to rest so early in the day, Jane should have KNOWN Jake would try something like this.) The streets felt crowded and didn’t seem to breathe freely, there were many more shadows than Jane was used to because everything was so close. But as crowded as it seemed, the city seemed only to be just waking up, only the truly early risers like the bakers and such were up and active so far. 

Jane pulled her hood down when she passed the first bakery, reveling in the smell of baking bread over muck and filth that seemed to linger in the air. Nearly as soon as her hood was down, Jake pulled it up over her head again, he’d insisted that she ride hooded at all times, even going so far as to make her pin her hood to her hair so it wouldn’t be blown off. He didn’t want them to be waylaid by those seeking the Maid of Life to heal their every ache and pain, and Jane understood the idea, but thought keeping her hood up in Inn taverns just drew more attention to her.

“We’re here. Is this caution really necessary.” Jane groused, readjusting her hood on her head as they moved through the city’s empty streets.

“City walls have eyes.” Jake said seriously, but he didn’t elaborate.

The process of showing what Jane gathered was a Royal Writ commanding that the Maid Of Life be in no way detained from her arrival to the palace was repeated. She displayed her pendant again, and Jake showed his signet ring and they were allowed again through the Castle Gates.

There was next to no one out in the courtyard at this hour but a couple young boys who seemed to be young servants. They turned to stare at these two early visitors to the palace and again, Jane removed her hood, and again Jake replaced it, but this time it was what Jane wanted.

At Jane’s beckoning gesture, the two came hurrying forward, forgetting their tasks in favor of finding more out about this mysterious new arrival. Jane shook her riding cloak off her shoulder to display the symbol of her Diety. “I need someone to carry a message for me.”

“I can do it ma’am!” said the taller of the two boys, eager to get information. The younger boy looked irritated that he missed out on being called on to do something much more exciting than clean the kitchens.

“I am the Maid of Life, here to heal at the King’s demand. Inform the highest man you dare that I have arrived with all haste and so have come with no materials for healing, therefore I will be found in the kitchens, gaining an understanding of what I have to work with. Tell no one else.”

“Maid of life arrived, in the kitchens, tell the King’s advisor, Yes M’lady.” The boy nodded quickly and took off.

The younger looked put out that he didn’t get an interesting assignment. Jane considered him as he stared after his companion. “I’ll need someone to run many errands for me regularly, one that knows his way around herbs and plants, do you boy?” The thin child nodded eagerly, “How much latitude do I have here cousin?”

“You’re here on royal command to do work imperative to the Crown.” Jake said, not detailing her task as she had avoided. “If you sound convincing when you say you want him, and tell it to the king’s advisor instead of the boy’s master, no one will say anything and another can easily be found to replace him.”

“What is your name?” Jane asked, nodding at her cousin and stepping down from her horse before he could dismount and help her down as was more appropriate for a ‘lady.’

“They call me Little Seb in the kitchens. Sebastian’s my name, but it’s a mouthful and there’s already a Seb in the kitchens, so I’m Lil Seb and he is Big Seb.”

“Sebastian.” Jane said, and the name pleased her. “Yes, if I have anything to say about it, I’ll have you assist me.”

Jake took hold of the horses’ reins, “I’m not sure if it’s you who isn’t ready for the Castle, or if the Castle isn’t ready for you Cousin, but it’s going to be a real hum-dinger of a time in the either way.”

“Lead the way to the kitchens Lil Seb.” Jane said, and followed the boy, knowing that the kitchens was likely the only part of the castle that would be completely alive and busy even at this early hour of just after dawn.

She had been talking very seriously about plants and herbs that were grown in the castle’s gardens with the head of the kitchens when a man in far too fine clothing appeared with three assistants in tow, the boy she’d sent with her message trailing behind.

“My Lady Crocker.” the man said irritatedly, “This is most irregular.”

“I was told all haste was needed,” Jane said seriously, “I was merely dispensing with time consuming ceremony and getting right to the business of healing.”

“Of course, your diligence will be relayed to the King. I am-” The man began.

“I don’t need to know your station.” Jane said very seriously, “You are a trusted advisor to the king and very important to this castle, it’s evidenced by your clothing alone. That’s all I need to know because my main and surely only concern is healing. With the haste that was demanded of me I had to travel at speed with next to no possessions, NONE of my usual tools of my trade and only my cousin as escort. My materials will be traveling to the palace by now but until then: I don’t have any money, only one other dress, and many needs in order to be able to do as is asked of me.”

The advisor was flabbergasted. “I-I-”

“Am surely dedicated to the success of my endeavors as I am here solely for the demands of the King and will do nothing to impede me in my work. Is that not so?”

“Of course, I just-” 

“Excellent. I will need at least one other dress, plain for working in while the one I brought is being washed and one fine for seeing the King. I am currently learning all I can about the resources I have to work with so I can get started as soon as possible, but as I have never before been to the castle, I will need at least one person to run errands, fetching things and running messages. Young Sebastian has already proven useful and I have not been in the castle a whole hour, I should like to have him help me.”

“... Anything you need for the pleasure of the king.” the advisor said carefully, inclining his head to Jane ever so slightly. And that was all the confirmation that Jane needed to know that as few people as possible knew the Queen was on her deathbed.

“Excellent, then you won’t mind the crown covering the expense of having my materials of healing being shipped to the castle.” Jane said quickly.

“The order’s coffers are so needy?” The man said cockily, suddenly seeming to be more in his own element again.

“As the daughter of the head of the Order, it is unethical for my using the Order’s money for affairs that are not Order affairs. This business is my own, and I do not yet come into my inheritance. I am, to an extent, a well dressed pauper.” 

Jake’s eyes widened to the point it was completely comical, though Jane didn’t allow herself to laugh. She was, more or less being truthful, but she was fudging about the business of healing the Queen, as it was formally charged to the Order. She hadn’t received that bit of intel in her letter, and what was to say that she didn’t leave before being told? Besides which, the very fact that the Order itself was charged with the Queen’s recovery was a prettily worded threat, and she bet her very fine and delicate measuring set this advisor wasn’t going to admit to that with the listening ears and gossiping mouths around them. 

“Perhaps, Milord.” Jake started, drawing the attention of the room on him, “It might be a worthy idea to proclaim her a guest of the palace. She could have rooms in that lovely tower near the Queen’s rooms, and no one need know this embarrassing little detail about the Order’s head family.” Jake paused to great effect. “We would be in your debt.” There was a beat of silence following his words.

“It shall be done, conduct your business here to your satisfaction and have the boy,” The advisor gestured at Sebastian, “show you to your rooms. It is imperative you keep this attitude of all haste, but you would do well to remember you are in the King’s castle and certain formalities should be observed.”

“Life breathes into everyone, and void greets us all equally.” Jane said flatly. “The titles we gain mean nothing to me, only the birth, the preservation of life not ready to join the void, and the gentle farewell to those who are.”

“And yet you call the King by his title.” the Advisor said with a frown.

“I have no interest in learning his name unless he were to be unfortunate enough to become my patient.” Jane said simply, “The same with you or anyone.”

“I shall leave you to your work.” The advisor said huffily and turned and stalked out of the kitchen.

“You wanted my name.” Lil Seb asked as soon as the nobles had left, suddenly sounding distressed, “Am I sick?”

“Of course not,” Jane comforted him gently with a hand in his hair, it needed a good washing. “There is one other time I ask for a person’s name, and that is when I wish to be friends.”

“I like that reason better!” Lil Seb insisted.

“Ma’am, you’ll regret putting Milord Scratch in his place like that.” The head of the kitchens told her seriously. “As entertaining as it was to see him get taken for a ride he doesn’t take kindly to disrespect to his power and position, real and imagined.”

“I’m not here to play court games, I am only concerned with my work to honor my Goddess.” Jane said firmly, “Now Chef, you were telling me about your supply of Thyme.”

~

“Your Highness.”

“Lady Egbert.” The King addressed Jane and it was an act of divine intervention that she didn’t roll her eyes to Space’s sky. “I have been informed that your diligence to my wife is without equal.”

“My title is Maid Crocker, good King.” Jane said with a deep curtsy, “I have chosen to keep my mother’s name in honor of she who bore me life in expense of her own. I am no courtly lady, merely a young woman dedicated to life and healing.”

“You keep a humble name and bearing despite your talents.” the King replied. “It is said you are the most gifted healer in two hundred years, and deeply blessed in Life’s glory besides.”

“My gifts are divine blessing,” Jane insisted, still holding her curtsy though it was starting to make her legs burn with the effort of holding the pose, “And the act of healing for me is as solemn a task as prayer and meditation for any devotee. In such a circumstance, the only course of action is in humility.”

‘Until you anger the young maid, then you’d swear she was just as blessed by rage.’ Jake thought while keeping a carefully neutral face. His younger cousin was truly a frightening temper to be faced against.

“Well spoken.” The King seemed to nod, “Your quarters are suitable to your needs, I trust? I must beg your indulgence, insisting you travel so quickly seems to have forced you to travel light beyond my reckoning.”

‘That’s about as close to a Royal apology as I’m as like to get while the Queen’s life still hangs in the balance.’ Jane thought bitterly, rising from her curtsy only because her legs were burning so much. Piety, dutifulness, and selective feigned ignorance would have to serve as her weapons here in court, she’d decided. She would not become entangled in the ridiculous politics that famously ran rampant here.

“Now, about your healing of the Lady Queen.” The King said, seeming to remember something suddenly as his tone changed to a far more crisp note. “I must confess, Queen Daniella has her reasons to distrust the Order.”

‘Queen Daniella is well known for hating all Avatars of all the Gods, especially the females, whom King Robert Strider could not seem to keep his hands off of.’ Jane thought with acid as she bit her cheek in an effort to stay quiet, she fidgeted with her other traveling dress, pale blue to honor her brother, with the sand brown of her usual Life’s garb as accent, and the growing vine of Life’s ancient symbol stitched over her heart. In the grandness of the audience chamber the King had called her to to speak to him in, she felt terribly underdressed and wondered about her notion to not have taken at least ONE nice frock that would have been suitable for holding audience with royalty. She did represent the Order after all.

“As such, it is the Queen’s wish that she not be healed by magical means, but natural ones.” The king went on, unaware of Jane’s wandering attention, though this statement brought it squarely back on track.

“N-none?” Jane all but choked. “Your highness, with her condition as serious as it is, it is far better to-” Jane shut her mouth at the look the King squared on her. Jane ducked her head slightly to put on a show of contrition, but she’d SEEN the Queen, and without using her divine blessings and limited to ONLY her knowledge (vast though it was) of mundane healing arts the Queen’s healing process would take longer not only to show definitive results, but to even correctly diagnose her patient.

“Any betrayal of the Queen’s wishes will be seen as a hostile act by the Order.” The King snapped. “One that will be retaliated against properly. Am I clear, Maid?”

Jane hung her head lower. She was not unfamiliar with the stories of King Robert’s temper or his swift hand with dealing justice. “You have made yourself perfectly clear, Highness.” Jane bit her tongue and promised herself she would get her dues in his coffers eventually. When the queen was healed by non-magical means he would be all smiles and allowances. (and if she died, Jane might also die as well, or worse, be used as leverage over her father and brother to bring the Order to it’s knees.)


End file.
